My Tender Princess
by YamaSachi
Summary: What would have happened to the whole story if Kaname would've left Yuuki in the snow on that fateful day 10 years ago? And how would Yuuki react upon seeing Kaname again after all those years? Would she be happy, or would she tear him apart? AU


**UPDATE: **Added intro and some more text, to add some mystery .w. ~!~!~! And in respond to some reviews I got, I'll slow down in chapter 2, or at least I'll try to. Hope you enjoy ;D

**DISCLAIMER: **I, sadly, do NOT own some of the characters mentioned in this story, they belong to the ultimate Matsuri Hino~!

_**Intro:**_

_What if Kaname would've left Yuuki all alone in the snow, on that fateful day 10 years ago. What would have become of Yuuki? Would she remember her name? Would she recognize Kaname if he were to reappear in her life, and how would she react to it?_

_This story tells the tale as it would've happened, if Kaname had left Yuuki after saving her. It is told from her point of view, the way she sees things, with some interventions to clear some things up, told from someone else's point of view. Yuuki has no memories from before that fateful day, she doesn't even know her own name. Over the past few years, she has been to all kinds of places, always working to keep herself alive. 5 weeks ago, Yuuki arrived at a manor, owned by the Kiyoshi group, a powerful family. This manor is open for tourists and is visited a lot during the whole year. But besides tourists, the manor is also visited by the elite of the world. Soirées are not a rarity at this manor, for it possesses a huge ballroom. _

_Cross Academy doesn't exist anymore in the way as we know it. When the Night Class started attacking the Day Class, Kaien decided that vampires were no longer welcome at Cross Academy, until he would have two guardians, to protect the Day Class from the Night Class, and the other way around. _

_Where is Kaname? A lot of stories are told about this dark prince, one of them saying that he disappeared, to take over the world when he's ready for it, another one saying that Kaname died by the hand of Kaien. Nobody knows which story is the true one, there is only one thing we do know for sure. Kaname has disappeared, along with some of his classmates from when they still attended Cross Academy. _

_This story starts on the day before, or should I say, the beginning of the end. Enjoy! _

**Chapter 1: The day before**

It was cold, very cold. And how lonely I felt…

That day, a bit more then 10 years ago, is where my memory starts.

I don't remember much of what happened that day. I remember being on a mountain, and it was snowing. Then, suddenly a scary man came to me and attacked me. Maybe he wanted to bite me? I remember white fangs coming to get me, when another man appeared. He was younger than the man that had attacked me, but he was the same… He killed the man that had attacked me, but he licked the blood that flooded from the body that was lying in the snow. My saviour looked at me, with a smile, so lonely, it made me cry. He didn't offer me his hand, he didn't bring me to somewhere safe. No, he left me there, on my own, as a little girl aged 5…. If I were to see him ever again, I'd kill him.

It's a promise I made to myself, I swore it…

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"Yuzu!! You have to wake up, otherwise Lorence will get angry at you AGAIN!"

I woke up in shock. Again that dream, about that night 10 years ago…

"Yuzu! Are you even listening to me?!?"

I turned my head towards the noise. It was Chiyo trying to wake me up, apparently, I overslept again..

Chiyo Asami had been one of my best friends since I arrived at this place, an immense manor, famous with tourists, and open for tourists.

Chiyo still had all of her memories from her childhood, but she wasn't very proud of that. She described her parents to me as crazy and obsessed people. All they could ever talk about were bloodlines and blood itself, and they used to bath her in it, because then she would smell so good…

Chiyo ran away from her parents when she was 12, and I can't blame her for doing that, I would've done the same. She lived with her grandmother for the next four years, until at one afternoon, when she returned home, she found her grandmother on the floor, dead. She ran away again, she hated blood, she couldn't stand seeing so much of it, covering up someone she loved so much….

She arrived here, at this place, 2 days before I did, 5 weeks ago.

This place, this immense house.. I work here as a maid, along with Chiyo. We share a room and we are best friends. She makes me want to stay here.. She makes this horrible situation worth living in.

My name, Yuzu Shiori, I don't know where it came from. I remembered that my name starts with the syllable Yu, but from there on, I have no clue. From all of the options I had, I chose Yuzu, don't ask me why, I just did, as if my hidden memory tried to tell me this was it. Shiori, my surname, it means poem. I probably chose it because my whole life feels like a sad poem.

"Yuzu! Please! I don't want to get into trouble again, you know what trouble means in here… 3 times having a company round!" Chiyo was facing me with a desperate look in her eyes. Tears were starting to form in here eyes. I knew how deeply she hated the 'company' round.

Our job is simple. As maids, we have two duties: cleaning and 'company'. Cleaning, well, it's cleaning, but 'company' is another story. This manor was famous with tourists, and to please these tourists, but also the guests that were invited in here, the maids would put on their most beautiful dress, the most revealing dress they had, and show themselves to the people. The first one to claim her would get her. For the next four hours, she would have to be at the service of the guest. Chiyo and I had been lucky up until now, nobody had ever made indecent moves towards us yet…

I kicked the sheets that were covering me away from me, and I raised myself to my feet. Chiyo's desperate look turned into a smile. I walked to the bathroom and stared at the mirror. I had changed a lot since the day that I came here. When I arrived here, my hair was deep brown and my eyes red/brown. Right now my hair was pitch black and my eyes were blue because of the contacts I was wearing.

"No time to fall in love with your mirror image Yuzu! Get dressed and make your way to Lorence's office, I'm leaving now or I'll get into trouble again." And with that Chiyo left. I made my way to the closet and grabbed my maid's uniform. It wasn't quite an attractive outfit, but the rules said we had to wear it, and so we did, to avoid getting into trouble. I got dressed and left for Lorence's office.

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Lorence was the son of the owner of this manor. He was in charge of most things in here, like inviting guests, the tourism and us, the maids and servants. He wasn't a cruel man, but he also wasn't a guy you should get into trouble with. The job lottery was his idea, his invention. Our job starts at 6:00 AM in Lorence's office. He'll say your name and grab a tiny piece of paper on which either cleaning or company is written. Whatever job comes with your name is the job you'll have to do for the next four hours. And after those four hours, we have to come to Lorence's office again, to receive our new jobs…

When I arrived at this place, I had some issues with being ordered around by someone else. I ignored Lorence's orders and used to sleep until 10:00 AM. It didn't only make me unpopular with Lorence, but also with the other maids, because they had to do the work I refused to do. Lorence didn't do much about it though for the first two weeks, but after those two weeks he dragged me to his private room on the highest floor and almost threw me out of the window. He told me if I ever felt the need to ignore his orders again, he would throw me out of the window. I have never dared to say no to him since that day and after a week of doing my work, he dragged me to his private room again and gave me a flower. He told me it was my reward for doing my job and then he smiled at me. Strict when you don't obey him, but a good guy if you give him respect and listen to him, that's Lorence.

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I heard Chiyo somewhat cursing from underneath her breath while she was looking for her dress. We had just received our second company round for today, but this time we had our company round together with the only male servant in here, Jun Tomio, who seems to have been born into the service of Lorence and his father, because his first name means obedient. His surname, Tomio, means treasured man, and I think it fits perfectly with him, because without him, I guess no woman would survive it in here.

I had found my dress in the meantime already. It wasn't very special, a plain brown dress with short sleeves, but it's not like I had the money for anything better. I had seen my dress of dreams once, but I would never be able to afford it. I put the brown piece of cloth on and then helped Chiyo searching for her dress. Chiyo's dress was way more beautiful than mine. It looked like it was golden and it fit perfectly around her body. It was strapless and it had three pearls at the top. "Looking for your golden treasure I assume?" I asked Chiyo. She looked at me and shook her head. "Not this time Yuzu, I'm looking for the blue one." She slightly grinned after saying this. It meant that she was planning to use her golden treasure for something special.

"Who is the lucky one?" I asked her in a naughty tone. She looked at me as if I came from another dimension.

"What are you? Deaf? Didn't you hear Lorence tell you and me that we are going to be the hosts for the soirée tomorrow?"

She did have a point there, how could I have not heard that? I was probably drifting away again. I continued helping Chiyo searching for her dress, this time I was looking for the blue one, which was just as plain as my brown dress.

"Here it is!" Chiyo pulled her blue dress from her drawer and put it on. As soon as she was done, we both made our ways to the exposition area, where we would show ourselves to the public.

"Well you are early, I didn't expect that from you guys." Jun Tomio came towards us and gave us both a hug. "Good luck for the next four hours girls, and just hope for the best okay?" He smiled at us in a somewhat sad way. Everybody knew that Jun's experiences with the company round weren't the best ones, but he still kept doing it, which was an inspiration for us all. If he could do it, then we could do it as well!

We chatted for a couple of minutes until we heard Lorence's voice through the speakers: "Get ready girls and boy, we are about to lift the curtains!" This was a sign for the three of us to take on our sexy positions. So the company round wasn't meant as a sexual thing, but once you take on a sexy pose, you get picked earlier and the earlier you get picked, the smaller the chance that no one will pick you, which results in punishment. I don't know what this punishment was, but I guess Jun knew, because he was dressed at his best and he looked perfect in the position he was in.

The curtains were lifted, and our existence was exposed to the outside world. These things come with a certain routine, as soon as the curtains lift, we close our eyes, because all of the tourists want to take pictures. After about 10 seconds, we open our eyes again, and show the tourists and guests our bodies. We perform our catwalk walk, we turn at the same moment, you could say it carries a certain choreography.

"Chiyo! You have been picked, come to my office. You too Mr. Hisashi." Lorence's voice sounded trough the speakers again.

Chiyo bowed to the public and left the exposition area. Jun and I looked at each other and performed our catwalk dance again. I was supposed to put on a smile, but at the moment I just didn't feel like it. Jun must have noticed what was going on with me because for that brief moment that we faced each other in our catwalk dance, he put on one of his crazy faces. My frown turned into a big smile immediately and not long after that, Lorence told me to come to his office, I was claimed by some Mr. Satoshi.

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One is not able to see without any glimpse of light, completely surrounded by the comforting darkness. My eyes staring into the emptiness. "My lord, you wish to speak to me?" As the door opened, my perfect darkness escaped, I felt the rage growing inside of me, but I let it slide, he was not worth it. "Sure you must have noticed, my loyal servant, that my time is running out, therefore it is time which I seek. Tell me, Petals of Flower, I there any hope of finding it?" My eyes were exploring the figure in the door opening as I spoke.

The silhouette of his being revealed a smile, as his golden hair emitted a glow that hurt my eyes. He slowly approached me, coming closer and closer. I could feel his mouth, his lips brushing against my ear. A faint sound came from him, but it awakened me. "My lord, in Kiyoshi manor lives a soul, seemingly white as snow, but dyed in blood from down below."

I did not know how fast I had to get out of this place. I pushed the youngling away, making my way towards the door when I was interrupted. "My lord WAIT! Patience is a virtue, your chance lies in the day of tomorrow. Wise man will prepare her for you, but you will have to hold back. Slow and steady wins the race."

I felt them grow, they pierced my lips, the smell of my blood reaching the youngling's nose. I did not want to hear his words, though I knew that they were spoken in truth…

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Satoshi means clear-thinking or wise, and a wise man he was indeed. He wanted me to show him around the manor, like most tourists and guests want us to. Of course the tour didn't take the complete four hours, so he took me to the tourists' restaurant after the tour for a drink. For the first couple of minutes he just looked at me while I was drinking my wine. I know I'm a minor, but I felt extremely attracted to wine, especially red wine, and nobody complained, so I just drank it.

However, after a few minutes Mr. Satoshi suddenly grabbed my hands and kissed them. If he were somewhat handsome, I wouldn't have minded, but Mr. Satoshi was probably over 70 already, so it wasn't really something to enjoy. I couldn't just ask him to stop though, I was at his service still. He looked at me in the eye and told me he could see my future very clearly.

"Yuzu, or should I say tender princess, tomorrow shall be the first step on that long stairway to your throne. Your dreams shall grant you the first sign, the first hint, so that you will find your prince, your king, your saviour, your everything. But first, a test of loyalty, will you stay at the side of your beloved ones when they need you? Now will you, my tender princess.."

This said, the old man kissed my hands once more and then fell to the ground. I knelt beside him and checked his pulse. It was weak, and getting weaker…

Then, at that exact same moment, I heard a familiar scream coming through the hallways. It was Jun…. The old man, the old and dying man, the old man who still owned me, he ordered me to stay by his side, he asked me to abandon my friend, he asked me to be loyal to my master. His words rushed through my mind, a test of loyalty, but loyalty to who? I could ruin all of my chances on a better future by going to help Jun now….

You might think of me as naïve now, but when your future is as empty as mine, you'll believe any prediction that is made about your future, you'll grasp onto every tiny bit of hope.

Jun's screams were heard through the big halls of the manor again. I ran towards the heartbreaking sound with tears in my eyes. I couldn't care less about my future right now, I wouldn't make it anyway without Jun!

I turned around just once for a brief moment. The old man looked at me, nodded, smiled, and then closed his eyes.

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"Hurry up Yuzu! He's losing blood!" I think I must've thrown everything out of the first aid box. Bandages, bandages, there just have to be bandages! I came across some iodine and took it out of the box, then I resumed my search for the bandages.

"Yuzu! Quickly!!" Chiyo was sitting beside Jun, pushing her hands onto the shot wounds in Jun's shoulder. I turned the complete first aid box upside down, but there were no bandages to be found.

"Yuzu, don't worry, the ambulance should be here in a couple of minutes, now go and help Chiyo with keeping Jun with us!" Lorence was busy trying to keep Mr. Masanori, the one that had shot Jun about 10 minutes ago, in the hold. Still he looked at me with a comforting face.

Four hours ago, Jun had been claimed by Mr. Masanori. Jun had bowed to his master and he had asked him what his wishes for the coming four hours were. Mr. Masanori had asked for a tour, just as Mr. Satoshi had asked from me. Jun had given Mr. Masanori the tour, only Jun's tour ended at the private rooms. Mr. Masanori was a guest at the manor at the moment and he had invited Jun into his private room. In the beginning it went well, but after a couple of minutes, Mr. Masanori changed the subject of their conversation to Jun's past experiences with the company round…

Of course Jun had to answer every single question that was asked. Mr. Masanori heard everything about the horrible things that had happened to Jun, and well, maybe he got inspired, because at a certain moment he asked Jun to go lie on his bed. Jun did as he was asked, probably while his eyes filled themselves with tears. Mr. Masanori went to get a knife, a gun, handcuffs and many more tools that you would rather avoid. Poor Jun, he had nowhere to go, he had to obey.

I think that at a certain point, he realized that he would rather undergo Lorence's punishment, anything better than the coming torture.

He kicked Mr. Masanori in the stomach and he ran away, praying that Lorence would show mercy on him, again. Wet eyes, red face, imagining what he must've looked like almost makes me cry. Lorence must've been surprised to see Jun there in his office, while he was still supposed to be with Mr. Masanori. Jun fell to his knees and tried to tell what was going on, but his sobs made his speech unintelligible. Jun begged for mercy, he begged Lorence not to send him back to Mr. Masanori. Since Lorence could not rely on Jun's words, he relied on what his eyes told him. No torn clothes, pants where they should be, no wounds, no blood, no life-threatening situation… Rape is no justification to leave your master during the company round, sadly. Torture is, but when you're being tortured, there is usually no chance to run away. Surely Lorence will not let such a thing pass, he will take care of the bastard that has hurt his staff, but he can't erase memories…

Rape is no justification, even if there were signs of rape for Lorence to be seen, I doubt Lorence would've shown compassion, especially because Mr. Masanori was an invited guest, and it is our job to please our guests. Poor Jun was to go back to Mr. Masanori, knowing what would happen…

Lorence knocked on Mr. Masanori's door with one hand, while holding Jun with the other. Jun's master opened the door and immediately dragged him into his room again. Jun cried for Lorence's help, but his should-be saviour had already left for his office again. Jun cried and cried, until Mr. Masanori couldn't stand the noise anymore and hit Jun. Jun was pushed onto the bed by his master, his clothes were ripped of his body. "Nice clothes, you earned them all by yourself eh? I could use them, too bad they're torn now.." He lay on the bed, naked except for the few pieces of torn cloth that were still attached to his body. Mr. Masanori took his knife and was planning on cutting Jun open when Jun decided to defend himself where Lorence had failed to protect him.

Again Jun kicked Mr. Masanori in his stomach and he grabbed the knife that his master was holding. The roles were reversed now, that's what Jun must've thought, until his hope was shattered into millions of pieces again when Mr. Masanori pulled his gun.

Lorence rushed out of his office by the hearing of the first gunshot, and not soon after that, the first scream. I guess he cursed himself many times for bringing Jun back to Mr. Masanori. When the second shot was fired, Lorence had already arrived to overpower the filthy murderer.

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"Mr. Kiyoshi, Mr. Tomio is stabilised now, you should thank those girls, they've probably saved his life." The paramedic looked at us with a smile on his face. "I'll be sure to reward them, they've done a great job." Lorence followed the example of the paramedic and looked at us with a smile. "Just one more thing, Mr. Kiyoshi, you told us there was just one victim, but it seemed that someone else called from here because an old man had collapsed, one Mr. Satoshi." Lorence's eyes widened. "His condition?" The paramedic was silent for a moment, but then answered. "He's dead, Mr. Kiyoshi.."

Chiyo couldn't stop crying, tears kept flooding from her eyes. The tears weren't shed for Jun, I knew that much, the tears were shed because of the blood that was all over her body. "Get it off me! I hate it!" She was clearly terrified, so I took her to the bathroom to wash of the blood, Jun's blood.

The water I used to erase the blood from Chiyo's body turned red, and I watched it drain in the sink. Even though blood is something that should stay inside a body, it looked beautiful mixed with water. I stopped watching the blood and looked at how Chiyo was doing now. To my utter surprise, she was watching the blood as well. In her expression I saw.. fear, but also…hunger..

"Yuzu, we need to talk… about Mr. Satoshi.." Lorence was standing in the doorway of the bathroom. I looked at Chiyo, who nodded at me, as a sign that everything was alright.

"Yuzu…did…did Mr. Satoshi order you to stay at his side? I need to know, in order to punish you, I'm sorry.." My eyes widened. "Lorence! I saved Jun's life! That man was about to die anyway!" Lorence closed his eyes, and when he opened them there were tears to be seen. "I know Yuzu, I am so grateful for that, but you ignored the orders of your master, if I won't punish you, my…." He didn't have to explain himself any further. If he wouldn't punish me, his father would…

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I wasn't going to be a host for the upcoming soirée, that was my punishment. Chiyo had wanted to quit the job as well, so it would be fair towards me, but I told her to be the host and have fun tomorrow, because she deserves it.

I sighed and closed the curtains of our room. As I turned to walk towards my bed and fall onto it, Chiyo came in. She had just received the instruction for the soirée, that's why she arrived in our room somewhat later than I did.

A painful silence filled our room. I guess everything that had occurred today had been a bit too much. I changed to my pyjamas and I turned off the lights at my side of the room. Not soon after that, Chiyo did the same thing…

Many thoughts haunted my mind for hours before I finally fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, I noticed I wasn't in my bed anymore. The ground felt soft, like there were thousands of hairs brushing against my back. I got up and looked around, exploring the area with my eyes. I was on a giant field of grass, the smell of beautiful flowers was in the air. I took one step, expecting to feel the soft grass brush against, but instead of soft grass, I felt dirt and dead plants. I looked down to find that the grass had died where my foot had landed. I took another step and the exact same thing occurred. I felt guilty, I can't explain why, it just felt that way.

I walked through the fields of grass. I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings. At a certain point I just closed my eyes. I don't know for how long I walked through the fields of green nature, leaving a trail of death behind me. However, my walk came to an abrupt end when I fell into a pond that happened to be there. I tried to swim to the banks, but I was sinking, the harder I tried to swim, the faster I would sink.

I was convinced I would die at that moment, until someone grabbed my arms and pulled me out of the water. At first I didn't quite realise what had just happened, but when I did I caught a glimpse of my saviour. It was Jun. I whispered his name and tried to touch his face, but he grabbed my arm before my hand touched his skin. He shook his head and then smiled in a way I had seen only once before. His face took another shape, but faded away before I could see the form his face had taken.

I was all alone again, feeling even sicker than I already did. I fell to the ground and closed my eyes again, hoping that when I would open them again, somebody would be here to rescue me from this place. My prayers were heard, for when I opened my eyes, there was a black car in front of me. I got up and looked at it. It was beautiful, probably a car for the elite of this world. The doors opened. I waited for the rich and handsome people to step in the car, but when they didn't come, I though that maybe this car had come here for me. I got into the vehicle and it started to drive. As the car drove to it's destination, I glanced at the landscape that was flashing in front of my eyes. The endless fields of grass changed into big, blue oceans, which at their turn changed into a volcanic landscape. When the car arrived at it's destination, the landscape had taken the form of the endless fields of grass again.

The doors were opened for me, and I got out of the car. My feet didn't land on soft grass. First of all, I was wearing beautiful shoes all of a sudden. Second of all, my feet landed on a beautiful path decorated with wonderful tiles. As I followed the path, I came across a mirror. I stopped for a moment. I was beautiful, I was wearing my dress of dreams, my hair had taken it's original colour again, and so had my eyes. One of the servants of the palace that had appeared in front of me asked me to go inside.

The moment I took my first step inside the palace, my breath stopped. The building was so beautifully decorated. The atmosphere was somewhat occult, but maybe that's what made the building so beautiful. I didn't have that much time to look around though, because a woman walked up to me and asked me to come with her. I followed the elegant woman to a gorgeous living room. She sat down on a big, blood red sofa, next to another elegant being, probably her husband. He was reading a book, but stopped reading for a second and looked at me. He gently smiled at me and told me to sit down, 'he' would arrive within a couple of minutes. I had no idea who this person was, he.. I sat down next to the elegant woman. She wrapped her arms around me and told me she had missed me. I took a glance at her face. Her hair was deep brown and her eyes were a mixture of red and brown, just like me. This woman, was she…my mother?

The elegant woman smiled at me and nodded. Great, she could read my mind. I didn't know what to say. I looked at the man sitting next to the woman who appeared to be my mother. He stared into my eyes and also nodded. I never thought this could be possible, I was in one room, with my parents. That was also the moment I admitted this was indeed a dream, for I knew my parents were dead…

Then the person my father had spoken of arrived, a man, probably 2 or 3 years older than me. I looked at him, hoping to pick up a glance of his face, but he was wearing a mask. He sat down next to me and took my hand, kissed it and then he took me to another room.

"My tender princess.." As we entered the room, the man let go of my hand and he looked into my eyes. His words sounded like heavenly singing in my ears. "Your dreams have granted you the first sign, the first hint. My tender princess, I present to you the stairway to your throne, for I am your prince, your king, your saviour, your everything. Now arise my queen, my princess, take the steps one by one.. and--"

As he stopped talking, something happened. I tried to see what was going on, but all I could see were the stairs, everything else had disappeared. I started running for them, but the stairs never came closer to me. I stopped, it didn't matter, I would only exhaust myself. Then, suddenly, I heard a weird sound, and the car came rushing towards me. It stopped right in front of me, the doors swinging open. I didn't think twice and got inside, sitting down on the nice fabric of the seats. My eyes felt so heavy at that moment, I wanted to sleep, sleep for all eternity. Who was that man, and why did I feel like, like…..

My eyes felt so heavy now, my mind so exhausted, I sunk into a deep absence in just a few seconds, my fingers wrapped around a piece of paper….

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